Anti-labour face of Congress Govt exposed by not waiving off farmer debt
Anti-labour face of Congress Govt exposed, farmers committing suicide: The Activists of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union was on a dharna, seeking debt waiver for farm labourers and voicing their disagreement against the state government’s move to exclude them from the recently launched debt waiver scheme.
Zora Singh Nasarli, state union president and general secretary Lachhman Singh Sewewala said that farm labourers too, like farmers, were committing suicides due to debt, at the protest while addressing the protesters.
However, the Congress government had exposed its anti-labour face by not waiving off their debt. They said the governments at the Centre and the state had already been pursuing similar policies that were pushing the farmers and farm labourers into a debt trap.
They claimed that about 84 percent of the farm labourers in the state were under debt. The Congress government was finding ways to escape from its poll promises and was rather taking away the livelihood of the people by shutting thermal plants and schools.
They also demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job for the families of the farmers and farm labourers who committed suicide. BKU (Ekta) state president Joginder Singh Ugrahan also addressed the gathering.
Former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday said the Congress had made two big promises during the Assembly polls that it would “completely waive the debt of all farmers and give one job to every family” and formed the state government, but cheated people as it could not fulfil them.
Interacting with media persons, Badal said, “The farmers’ debt is of three kinds — taken from the nationalised banks, arhtiyas and cooperative societies. The present government waived debt up to just Rs 2 lakh of the cooperative societies and that, too, after laying so many conditions. Whereas some states which really wanted to waive the debt have already done it, just like Andhra Pradesh.”
-PTC News
